Jeanne Zibrida

Even before Jeanne Zibrida joined the Legacy Society, the Atlanta branch leader was one of the CMTA's guardian angels, aka volunteers. Jeanne had followed The CMTA Report since the early 1990s, and quickly signed up when a local branch formed in 2007. "It was fun to meet so many people from all over Atlanta," she says of those early meetings. "We sat around and took off our shoes and socks and compared feet. What an awakening to see so many people with my feet!" Jeanne stepped up to lead the branch when the former leader left. Like the other branch leaders, Jeanne had to pivot when the pandemic came along. But, she says, "The CMTA stepped up to give us so many resources on Zoom! I've learned so much because of their dedication." Jeanne says the CMTA's staff, volunteers, board of directors and researchers all "seem to be on fire to keep working for all of us to find a cure." The CMTA is also the heart of helping patients with resources, online conferences and newsletters, she noted. "I support all of what the CMTA does and the Strategy to Accelerate Research (STAR) is getting us closer to a cure." Jeanne graduated from Florida State University in 1977, then moved to Atlanta, where she earned a master's in nutrition. She spent the next 10 years in nutrition support, then started a career educating surgical and medical residents about enteral nutrition. She went on to gastrointestinal diagnostics, overseeing pharmacology, rheumatology and pain management with three different startup companies. Her final position was in specialty oncology and neurology. She retired five years ago. Jeanne was diagnosed with CMT1A after a neurologist friend shook hands with her father, then 60, and immediately told him, "You have CMT." He then looked at Jeanne's feet and said "So do you." Her younger brother and aunt have it as well. Post-diagnosis, Jeanne continued water skiing, snow skiing and jogging. She ran a 10K, the Peachtree Road Race, in 1998. She had a number of orthopedic surgeries, including having the arches of both feet lowered. Jeanne is leaving a bequest to the CMTA because she's "honored to be a part of this group" and wants to "leave some money that will help raise more money to continue research for a cure and support all the aspects of CMTA to help the community." She adds that everyone who can should consider putting the CMTA in their will-whether it's a fund or a certain percentage of an account, which is what she did. Like an angel, she'll be watching over the CMT community for years to come.